DENTISTS REGISTRATION (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

The Minister for Health (Dr Toh Chin Chye): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Singapore has faced a shortage of dentists for a long time with little hope of changing the present dentist population ratio of 1 : 5,500 to a more desirable ratio of 1: 2,500 which would meet the demands for dental treatment by the population fairly adequately, unless the number of dentists is considerably increased. There are at present 249 qualified dentists in Division I of the Dentists Register and 171 unqualified dentists in Division II of the Dentists Register. In addition there are also 230 dental nurses who provide systematic dental treatment for about half the primary school population of 360,000 children.

Because of the shortage of dentists a scheme has been launched this year to train a new category of dental operators, known as Dental Therapists. They attend a three-year course, at the end of which they should be able to perform straightforward dental procedures such as extractions, fillings and making dentures. Twenty student dental therapists have been enrolled this year and from next year onwards 40 student dental therapists will be enrolled each year. Dental therapists, however, will not be permitted to carry out surgical operative procedures on the soft tissues and bone of the jaws.

For the first 10 years after the completion of training, dental therapists will be provisionally registered to work only under the supervision of qualified dental surgeons either in government dental clinics or private dental practices. After 10 years of service under qualified dental surgeons and subject to their passing a suitable qualifying examination, they will be allowed to work on their own as registered dentists but restricted to the class of work for which they have been trained. They will then be placed on a separate list in the Dentists Register, distinct from Division I (qualified) and Division II (unqualified) dentists.

The Dentists Registration (Amendment) Bill seeks to provide for provisional registration for these dental therapists in the first 10 years of their service and their enrolment in the Register of Dentists if they pass a qualifying examination. Provision is also necessary to prohibit dental therapists from performing certain dental procedures.

The opportunity is also taken in the Bill to make changes in the Dentists Registration Act. They are administrative in character and are summarised in the explanatory statement attached to the Bill.

In the first recruitment exercise carried out this year there were 167 qualified applicants, of whom 24 were male and 143 female. They were given a manual dexterity test. Twenty trainees were finally appointed, 16 of them were females and four males. I ought to add that there was no significant difference between the number of males and females who passed the manual dexterity test.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill-[Dr Toh Chin Chye].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.